Song Huang Tingjian's Calligraphy: "The Vow Text"

Author: Wen Weiming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: Huang Tingjian, styled Luzhi, styled Shanggudao Ren, styled Fuweng, styled Qianjia Jushi, styled BaGui LaoRen. A poet and calligrapher of the Northern Song Dynasty. Born in Xiushui County. His father, Huang Shu (styled Yafu), passed the imperial examination in the second year of the Qingli era (1042) but failed to achieve official success. He devoted himself to literature and poetry, learning from Du Fu and leaving behind the "Futan Collection." His uncle, Li Chang (styled Gongze), was also a poet and a book collector. This allowed Huang Tingjian to grow up in a literary environment filled with scholarly traditions. Huang Tingjian was exceptionally intelligent from a young age. At five, he could recite the Five Classics, and at seven, he wrote a poem titled "Pasture Boy":
"Riding a cow, I go far past the village,
Blowing a flute, the wind carries it across the shore.
How many in Chang'an chase fame and fortune,
Using all their cunning, they can't match you."
Therefore, Huang Shu was very fond of this child. Sometimes, his uncle would visit the Huang family, pick a book randomly from the shelf, and ask Huang Tingjian about it. He could answer fluently. Li Chang was amazed and called him "someone who achieves a thousand miles in a day."